Boca Raton — The Owls are off to their best start in nearly 20 years after they easily handled the University of Missouri at Kansas City by a score a 77-59 on Saturday.

The Owls are 3-1 for the first time since the 1988-’89 season.

“It certainly makes a huge difference being 3-1 instead of 2-2 as we go to face Davidson,” says coach Mike Jarvis.

FAU will travel to North Carolina on Monday to face All-American sharpshooter Stephen Curry and the nationally ranked Davidson Wildcats in the consolation round of the Preseason NIT.

Against UMKC, guard play was the key in the Owls’ rather easy home win.

The Kangaroos (1-3) simply had no answer for the Owls’ backcourt of Shavar Richardson, Paul Graham, Xavier Perkins and Carderro Nwoji, who combined for 66 of the team’s 77 points. Not to mention an additional two by reserve Alex Tucker.

Coach Mike Jarvis emphasized that it was a necessity for the guards to come up big, as the big men are limited due to the absence of power forward Carlos Monroe, who is ineligible.

“We want Chris [Watson] to get rebounds and Brett [Royster] to block shots,” says Jarvis. “So it was a necessity that our guards put up points. Things came together really well.”

The Owls jumped out to a big lead early and never looked back. Back-to-back three pointers from Richardson gave the Owls a 32-19 lead at the half. They would never look back. A 13-2 run seven minutes into the second half gave the Owls a 47-27 lead and all but sealed the deal. UMKC would never get back as close as 14.

Richardson led FAU with 18 points.

Graham contributed 22 points, while reaching the 1,000 point milestone and becoming the sixth leading scorer in school history.

“It is always great to reach a milestone,” says Graham of his feat. “But what’s most important is the team got the win.”